IML - Saturday

Saturday was another blur of a day, this was to be the long day as well - 8 hours of boots and no breaks. After a hearty breakfast again with Tarsus, I went and signed 100 posters for the IML class. All the contestants signed them, we all got one and one was sent to the Leather Archives & Museum.

Then I had to repair my poor Tankenstini! I had extra pieces of wood that I brought, and a healthy dose of screws and nails to fix him up. Add a dash of blue duct tape to catch the eye a little and viola! A better more rigid bootstand.

Then the people arrived, I even had one who was camping out waiting for us to open, and someone else waiting in the wings after him. With my space station fully operational I could get through folks a lot more smoothly. I did a pair of tall crotch length wesco waders, and he must've told his friends as I got two more later that day. I had people coming to me thanks to some recommendations of people yesterday. I had people come and compliment my work. All the while I was doing boots, snacking on hazlenuts, drinking water and then doing boots again. My final count for the day was 34 pairs, much faster than yesterday.

After it was all over, it was ballot counting and then a super quick change for the bootblack reception. I had about 30 minutes but made it back down in time to be the first one there. After running so long in the day, I didn't have anything substantial in my system, so after a short break to the bar upstairs and some comfort food that I brought back - Wendell was kind enough to get me a drink and calm me down. Then the rest of the evening went a lot more smoothly.

The bootblack reception was also the site of a silent auction, the proceeds of which were going towards the winners travel fund. There was also a small piece of stage time there as each of us was introduced to the folks there. Some people even came in full leather Canadian Mountie gear. Boy Dave and I just had to take a picture with him. We schmoozed and talked and nibbled and browsed and eventually it was all over. All of us were just exhausted and around midnight we were free to go about our own business. For me, that business was bed.